The Ones We Choose To Love
by TheAngriestFace
Summary: The world is in a golden age of peace following the reclaiming of Vale years after it's fall, but something sinister stirs in the shadows that hides in the darkness. Horrific acts of violence against Huntsmen and Huntresses pop up one after another in the once quiet streets of Vale, leaving despair in their wake. Sequel to Scars We Choose To Show.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Forgotten Rose**_

 _ **Book II**_

* * *

 _The Ones We Choose To Love_

* * *

The smells and sounds of cooking stirred Weiss from her comfortable slumber with a deep breath. She opened her eyes slowly and smiled lightly, even though the spot next to her was void of her wife, she knew that she was downstairs in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. With a deep breath, she stretched her arms out and groaned lightly, the white and red gold ring on her left hand caught her eye and smiled a little bit more. It had been two weeks since she had been married to Ruby Rose but it still felt like a dream, one she never wanted to wake from.

Not wanting to keep Ruby waiting, she pulled herself from the large bed, wrapped a fluffy white robe around her body and slipped her feet into slippers before making her way downstairs to the kitchen. She would have to find a way to thank Taiyang for letting them have his house during their honeymoon while he was out on a mission. While the original plan was to visit a different place in a high-class hotel, Ruby managed to convince her to stay in Patch, and she did not regret it.

Stifling another yawn, Weiss stumbled into the kitchen where Ruby was busy making a third stack of waffles. She was wearing a pair of deep red shorts that hugged her hips and showed off her long legs and a black tank top that exposed muscular arms and shoulders. Her red-tipped hair was pulled back into a ponytail as she hummed lightly to a song she was playing in her own little head. Walking up to her, she leant into her and placed her forehead on her shoulder so she did not have to stand on her own anymore. She barely grew since Beacon and now Ruby was taller than she was.

Her wife giggled lightly as she leant back against Weiss. "Morning," Ruby said, far too cheerfully to be up this early. All the white-haired woman did, was mumble into her shoulder as she lazily wrapped her arms around her. She giggled again and turned around in her arms to give her a quick kiss. "Sorry, did I wake you?" She asked gently. Weiss looked up into her silver eyes and sighed lightly, the scar over her left eye was fully healed before their wedding, and while she appreciated the sentiment, she still worried about the dolt.

"No, just wondering where you went off to," Weiss said with another lazy kiss before moving away from her and pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"I'm never too far away from you." She replied softly as she placed plates of waffles, bacon and eggs on the table for the two of them. While they ate, they discussed what they would do once they got back to Vale, Weiss wanted to calmly unpack and call her sister while Ruby wanted to dive right into a mission, of course. Half way through negotiations, however, someone had rung the doorbell. The two woman looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and went to answer it.

On the other side of the front door, stood a small girl, no older than seven. She had messy, pale blue hair and bright green eyes, freckles sprinkled across her nose. She was wearing worn jeans and a shirt and was probably playing in the forest nearby, what startled Weiss was how afraid the girl was. She was breathing hard and had a wild look in her eyes. Immediately, Ruby crouched down to her level to talk to her, her voice was light and concerned. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"My mum told me that a Huntsmen lives here, is he here?" She asked quickly.

"He's my dad, I'm a Huntress, what happened?"

The little girl just pointed to the woods and spoke quickly. "I saw a monster in the woods!" Ruby stood up and peered into the trees, trying to find out where it was.

"The woods should have been cleared out weeks ago..." Weiss said lightly, now alert and awake with the threat of Grimm.

"Probably just stragglers trying to reclaim territory..." Her wife said lightly.

"We should call Signal and get them to send someone out," Weiss was already pulling her scroll out and was dialling the number when Ruby placed a hand on hers, blocking the screen.

"I can handle his, Weiss." She said with a smile. Weiss shook her head lightly.

"Ruby, we're on our honeymoon,"

"We're going back tomorrow morning..." Gently, Ruby took both of Weiss's hands in her own and looked into her eyes. "It's probably just a few of them. I can do it in a day instead of a Huntsmen from the school taking a week to track them down and get them. Trust me, these last two weeks have been nothing but the best time of my life. But I haven't been on a mission for over a month and I've been slowly losing my mind..." Weiss was about to reply when she looked into Ruby's eyes, and the trap was sprung.

The silver eyed woman was using her puppy dog stare at her. Over the years, Weiss had begun to build a resistance to it, unfortunately, the resistance only offered about ten seconds before giving in completely. With a heavy sigh, she shook her head. "Fine..." Ruby grinned and quickly pecked her lips before disappearing in a flurry of rose petals. She looked at the little girl who just stood by the door, worried about what's going to happen when Ruby appeared just as quickly as she left.

She had taken her hair out of the ponytail and it flowed past her shoulders like silk. With the length of her hair, it was mostly red with a black base at her scalp. She had on a dark grey shirt that covered her arms, and a black corset to finish it off with that was detailed with small red roses. Black leather bracers and tight black pants with a number of red belts for pouches with knee high black boots trimmed with red, Weiss had convinced Ruby to ditch the oversized combat boots and went with more fashionable ones with thick heels and her signature red cloak to finish the outfit off.

"I'll be back tonight," Ruby said as she kissed her wife one more time before walking up to the girl and had her lead the way to the area she saw the monster. Weiss watched Ruby do one last weapon check before they left. Weiss simply sighed and shook her head with a smile. At least now she could pack up without any distractions.

* * *

"Yang. It's time to wake up,"

The blonde woman groaned as she was forced out of a good dream and back into reality, opening lilac eyes, she saw the sleepy eyes of Blake looking at her. Yang could not help but to smile as she wrapped her arms around the faunus woman and pulled her in close for some post morning cuddling. The woman simply groaned and rubbed her head in the crook of her neck as she wrapped her arms around the brawler. "Seriously, we need to get up if we want to be on time for this mission..." Blake muttered against her skin.

"Five more minutes..."

"You said that ten minutes ago, and you need to take Zwei out..." Yang just groaned as she released her girlfriend and flopped onto her back lightly.

"You can't do that?" She smirked as she looked over.

"He's not my dog and I don't like him..." She said simply.

"You don't seem to be complaining now," Yang smirked. Blake was about to say something when they both felt something brushed up against their legs. With a worried look, Blake threw the blanket off their bodies and looked down to see the dog in question laying between the two of them, somehow sneaking between them at some point during the night and not disturbing them. Before Blake could throw the dog off the bed, Yang quickly wrapped her arms around her and held her close as Zwei barked happily.

"NO!" Blake cried out as she tried to fight back. "These are unauthorised snuggles!" Yang just laughed as the dog began to roll around between them, happy as could be. Eventually, Yang released her and she jumped out of the bed. "Take him out now! I'm taking a shower!" She said as she brushed the dog hair off her body and stalked to the bathroom.

"I could join you, you know," Yang said with a raised eyebrow and a flirtatious smirk.

"Then we'd never be on time..." She smirked back.

Eventually arriving at their contact location, Yang sipping on a cup of coffee as she, Blake and a few members of Vale's police department were standing around an opened manhole in a back alley in the city centre. The mission was a simple one, search and destroy. While the sewers and old foundations of Vale had been cleared out for decades, but since the Grimm overran the city during the Vytal festival disaster ten years ago, the underground was not as safe as it once was. With so many hiding spots, it would take years to completely clear it out. That's why they were here now.

They were to go in and clear out a few of the walkways since some city worker said they saw Grimm down there. Yang tossed the empty coffee container in a trash bin and pulled her hair into a ponytail quickly. She was wearing a duster coat with black pants and long brown boots on her legs. An exposed midriff showed off her toned stomach and a bright yellow shirt coming out from where she left her jacket unbuttoned. Along her left arm was metal plating, since her right arm was metal, she decided to balance it out a bit.

Her partner was wearing short, black vest and a tight fitting white shirt. Black jeans with the knees torn slightly and black heeled boots to match. Her weapon across her shoulder on a metal plate that protected her shoulder and twin ribbons that were trailing up her arms. "Who's on recall?" Yang asked as she pulled the hair band out from her mouth and finished her ponytail.

"Team CFVY," The officer replied after looking at his scroll. While Yang had never needed to use the Emergency Huntsmen Recall before, she did have to be a part of it while she was still on the roster. The EHR was a team of Huntsmen who's sole mission was to get to Huntsmen and Huntresses and extract them if the situation gets too dangerous or something goes wrong. A system perfected during the battle to take back the city. Satisfied with who would pull them out if shit hits the fan, Yang smirked at Blake. "Ready, babe?"

The woman simply rolled her beautiful golden eyes and jumped into the hole, followed closely by Yang. As soon as her boots hit the water in the darkened tunnel, she immediately regretted her choice of mission. The tunnels were dripping with something and she was standing in something else she really did not want to know what, while she would be upset if she stained her clothing, she'd be more upset if something happened to her hair. "Why are we down here again?" Yang asked as she turned on a flashlight that was clipped to her chest.

"Because it's our job?" Blake replied dryly as she peered down one side of the tunnel while Yang was looking down the other path. "Make sure you keep your radio on, we need to finish up and clean the house before Ruby and Weiss get back."

"Yes, _mom_ ," Yang groaned out. Blake glared at her while she smiled. With a final wink, they walked down the separate paths that led deeper into the underbelly of Vale. Looking down each pathway she came across, Yang sighed lightly as she continued to wade through sewage, trying to stay on the walkways on the side the best she could. The smell was horrible, she could feel her hair becoming more greasy by the second and had not seen anything bigger than a rat for over an hour. Suddenly, she heard something and turned around quickly, her weapons expanding up her arms as she looked around quickly.

In the brief moments her light shined on what made the noise, she saw it, a Grimm. It looked like a rat the size of a medium sized dog, it had long spines along its back and a pointed face, the signature white bone mask with red markings and glowing eyes all Grimm had. Long claws and even longer teeth and a thin tail, it screeched when it saw Yang and fled deeper into the tunnels. Taking a breath, Yang pressed a finger to her ear, activating the chat on her scroll.

"Blake, I just saw a rodent of unusual size..."

 _"Colocolos?"_

"Yeah, just one though..."

 _"Well, there's never just one of those things, probably a nest somewhere down here..."_

"I'll keep looking. Keep me posted."

 _"Same to you,"_

With that, Yang took her finger off the device in her year and began to follow the creature down the same tunnel it ran down. While Colocolos were relatively easy, too many of them could overwhelm a trained Huntsmen, she continued to walk down the ways until she came into a large antechamber she figured was once part of the keep that Vale was built on top of back in the days of castles and royalty. A light was coming down from somewhere up above her, lighting the room and revealing old pillars and decayed sculptures of ancient gods that no one prayed to anymore. Standing before an altar, was a woman in a red cloak.

"Ruby?"

The woman turned around and smiled. It was her younger sister. "What are you doing here?" Yang laughed as a grin formed on her lips.

"We got back a bit early, thought we'd come and give you guys a hand." She said with a smile. Yang just laughed as she walked past the pillars and up to Ruby. It may have only been two weeks, but she missed her half sister dearly. They were together for almost their entire lives, side by side. Even with their careers, they often went on missions together. Yang just grinned as she went to wrap her arms around the smaller woman.

"It's good to see you again, how was-"

A frozen chill shot through Yang's stomach and she stopped. Her breath hitched in her throat and her mind went blank. Something was wrong, so, so wrong. Forcing a breath into her lungs, she slowly looked into the face of her sister. The warmth and love she always had were now gone, replaced with a cold hatred she had never seen before on her sister's face. Looking down at the source of the sudden discomfort, A knife was sticking out of her stomach, the handle in Ruby's hand.

"Ruby?" Yang whispered out. Her Aura did not protect her from this, why would it? It was Ruby, her sister! Why would she have to protect herself from Ruby? But with her Aura now fully concentrated on keeping her alive, none was being used to defend against outside attack as Ruby placed her other hand on Yang's shoulder to hold her still as she pulled the knife out and thrust it back in. Yang began to taste bile and blood creeping up in the back of her mouth as a beeping began to echo in her ear, a warning that her Aura was dropping quickly.

 _"Yang? What's happening, are you okay?"_ She could hear Blake's voice in her ear, but she could speak, she could not even move. Shock froze her body as the chill began to spread outward. The knife was thrust back into her again and again and again, each time with more force. The beeping and yelling in her ear drowning any thought she might have as she stared into Ruby's eyes, trying to question why she would do such a thing. All that answered was a cold, angry stare.

The knife was pulled from her stomach one last time and her hand released her shoulder. She collapsed to the ground like a puppet who had her strings cut suddenly. Her life blood spilling down her body as she looked up at her sister, begging for an answer. The younger woman just threw the knife down, turned and left her to die on the cold stone floor. She watched her leave through a passageway as her body tried to stay alive. After Ruby was long gone, Blake slide next to her suddenly, shouting something at her as she began to tap buttons on her scroll, but she could not hear her, she could not move. then there was darkness.

Then there was darkness.

* * *

With a water-filled fun day with her family, Pyrrha was waiting for Jaune and her son outside of the change rooms. They had just spent a few hours at the swimming pool in Vale, deciding to take a small vacation since they were in Vale before returning home. With it being just after noon on a weekday, there was almost no one in the pool so the lines for the slides were short and they had their choice of floaties for Anemone. Sitting on a bench looking over articles on her scroll, she heard a set of doors open.

Instead of seeing her family, Pyrrha saw Ruby Rose standing before her. She was about to greet her when alarms went off in her head, something was telling her to get her family and run away. Confused, Pyrrha stared at the red-cloaked woman for a few moments until she saw her reach behind her back and pulled out Crescent Rose and it opened up into a scythe. Pyrrha only had a moment to register what happened before Ruby charged right at her.

Jumping off the bench, she flipped over the hooded woman and ducked under another large swing of the weapon. While she would want nothing more than to ask why Ruby had suddenly attacked her, she was more preoccupied with just surviving. While Pyrrha was more concentrated on raising a family rather than being a Huntress, she had never missed a daily workout. Using her semblance to narrowly avoid the more dangerous attacks from the scythe, and blocking hits from her feet. But no matter how fit she was, she was unarmed, unprepared and out of practice when it came to fighting other people.

Blocking one attack had left her open for a large kick to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and throwing her against a wall. She felt her head bounce off the concrete and her vision blur for just a second before ducking under a massive slice from the weapon, gouging the material where her neck was just moments ago. As the fight continued, she was slowly being whittled down by kicks and punches she could not use her semblance to avoid and no weapons to properly block with. Pyrrha did not know where Ruby had gotten this much skill from, but she knew her move set from all their times sparring.

Ruby jumped back and quickly jumped to the left. The red headed woman knew this move, this was one of Ruby's staples for one on one combat. Using her semblance, she would run around to the side and try to get her scythe around her. But Pyrrha knew this. She waited just as Ruby sprinted off to the left, Pyrrha spun to the right to get her with a backhanded fist, the same attack calls for the same counter attack. Only this time, Ruby was not there. She stared out at nothing as her fist connected with the air, she saw the scythe appear around her chest a moment later.

How did Ruby appear to the right when she ran to the left? That was impossible. Because of this, Pyrrha's back was to Ruby and was now defenceless as the steel rested against her stomach all the way up to her left shoulder. Ruby suddenly turned and pressed her back against Pyrrha's and pushed off, causing the red head to bend over and Ruby to roll over it. As she did this, the razor sharpness of the weapon sliced through the last bit of Aura she had and tear into her flesh.

With a jerk of her body, Ruby landed on her feet while Pyrrha landed face down on the cold flooring, blood pooling around her. She felt her strength fail her as she tried to push herself up, only to fall in the pool of blood that was getting bigger by the second. Emerald green eyes looked up and saw the cold stare of Ruby's silver eyes look down at her from under her hood. Gasping for breath as her vision darkened, she watched Ruby fold her weapon, place it back on her body, and walk through Pyrrha's blood as she left the woman to die, waiting for her family.

* * *

In the evening, Ren was holding Lily in his arms as Nora pushed the grocery cart that held their food for the week. Nora was wearing another loose, pink dress since she could not fit into any more of her pants because of the size of her pregnant stomach. Of course, that did not stop her from demanding pancakes whenever she could, and since Ren hardly said no, most of the cart was for her and her alone. "I'm thinking it'll probably be pretty soon, Ren," Nora said with a smile as she rubbed her stomach, feeling the life inside of her stir.

"Probably, you look like you're ready to pop any day now." He said with a small smile as he turned to face her, Lily doing her best to not fall asleep in her father's arms.

Nora just giggled as she walked next to him and parked the cart next to their car. She walked next to Ren and kissed his cheek. "Well, Yang is thinking it's twins, I've got fifty lien on triplets."

"You're betting on your children?" He asked with a small smile.

"Of course, I had twenty that Lily was going to be a boy." Ren just sighed and shook his head lightly with an affection smile.

"So, what do you want for dinner?"

Both Lily and Nora threw their fists into the air calling out for pancakes. He hung his head in defeat and shook his head lightly. He was about to set Lily in the cart to start loading up the bags of groceries into their car when a gust of wind pushed his hair into his face and he stopped, she had seen him do this before a lot since they were kids. He stared out, almost reading the wind as expressions passed through his face. First, he was trying to find out what it was, then confusion, then she scared him with a look of horror and shock.

Suddenly, he turned and pushed Lily into her arms in a flash and placed both of his hands out in him. His aura barriers flashing in his hands between them as a loud crack echoed through the air of the store parking lot. The next thing she felt was something hit Lily, causing them both to fall to the ground. Getting up, she looked down at Lily in her arms as she cried out in pain. The next thing she saw was blood, a lot of it. She quickly checked over her crying daughter and saw bruises forming all over her arms, chest and up her neck from the impact of whatever hit them, but was not cut anywhere. Looking up, she screamed out in horror.

 **"REN!"** She crawled over to the man and turned him onto his back. His green shirt was soaked all the way through with blood from a massive hole in his chest. He had forced all of his Aura into the barriers to protect Lily and herself, leaving him vulnerable. His eyes were open but he was not responding to her screams or her shaking his limp body. Looking around in a panic, she saw people either running away or running towards her to help. Dozens were on their scrolls, calling for emergency services.

"Ren! Don't leave me! Please! Don't leave us!" She cried out to the man who was bleeding out. She looked up, tears falling from her eyes as she tried to find out what had happened. Across the street, she saw someone standing on the roof of a building. It was hard to see who it was through her tears, but she could almost make out the form of someone with a rifle and a red cloak fluttering in the wind. Before she could say do anything, the figure turned and walked away from view.

With her hand pressed to the hole in Ren, she prayed to anyone or anything that would listen to save Ren, instead of just letting him die in front of his family.

* * *

Night had fallen on the island of Patch. Weiss had spent the whole day packing up their things and cleaning up so her father in law would have a nice, clean home to come back to. She was preparing some dinner since Ruby had made breakfast this morning. She had gone into town and picked up a few things during the day after she had packed everything, setting a few pans to heat up, she was about to pull some ingredients from the fridge when she heard the front door open.

Looking out, she smiled as her wife walked in and began to remove her boots. "How did it go?" She asked, glad to see she was unharmed.

The red-clad Huntress simply smiled back and walked up to her. "Good," She said as she saw what Weiss was doing and quickly moved to help. She pulled a knife out of the stand and looked into her eyes. "There were only three."


	2. Chapter 2

"How, how could you do this?" Weiss asked as she looked at her wife.

"It was easy," Ruby said as she leaned forward, her face impassive and cold.

The two of them were silent for a time before Weiss shook her head. "I can't believe you've done this..."

"Well, I had a good teacher."

"I should have never taught you this stupid game..." Weiss mumbled as she finally moved her rook across the chessboard. Ruby finally smiled and giggled as she moved her knight and took her other rook and forced her into a check. Weiss just groaned and threw her head against the back of the seat of the first class section of the airship they were taking from Patch to Vale. "Seriously, how have you gotten this good?" Weiss asked as she looked over the board to try to find a way to come out on top.

"Like I said, you taught me really well," Ruby said with a giggle as she leaned back in her seat across from Weiss. The table between them had the game board and several snacks that Ruby was munching on for the trip from Patch to the Vale dock yard. Weiss could have gotten them express tickets that would have only taken a half hour to get back home, but they were in no rush to get home, so the two-hour scenic trip was nice.

In a few minutes, their lives would return to normal and they would have to go back to doing missions and paying bills and other mundane tasks that filled normal people's lives. Cleaning up the board after Ruby's surprising (although impressive none the less) victory, they got their bags and waited for the ship to dock and the ramp to lower. Their luggage in one hand and holding hands with the other; Weiss looked over and smiled at Ruby, her wife, and she smiled back. The last two weeks were the best time of her life, and she could not wait to see what the rest of her life had in store for her.

The ramp was lowered and what greeted them was several police cars and a squad of special weapons officers off to the side, standing at the ready. The married couple looked around at the amount of police that had shown up for seemingly no reason. A man stepped forward and looked up at them from the foot of the ramp. He looked like the typical police detective. A dark blue suit with a white shirt and a black tie. A long brown coat with his badge hanging off the chest.

"Ruby Rose?" he asked them.

"Yes?" Ruby asked as she squeezed Weiss's hand. Weiss knew what was happening, but she had no idea why.

"I'm going to have to ask you to come with me, please," he said as he gestured for her to walk with him. Ruby looked over at Weiss and squeezed her hand tightly.

"Ruby, what's going on..." Weiss asked as she held her wife's hand.

"I don't know. But I didn't do anything. So I should be free once they find out, right?" Ruby gave a comforting smile that was clearly forced. "But no matter what, I love you. Remember that."

Weiss nodded as Ruby released her hand and pried her own from Weiss's grip before she began to walk down the ramp. When she got to the detective, he gently took her hands and placed them behind her and slipped handcuffs around her wrists before leading her to one of the police cars and putting her in her back seat.

Weiss watched numbly as everyone began to escort the car to wherever they were going to go with Ruby when another detective walked up to her.

He had short, blond hair and pale, green eyes. She noticed his cheap, durable, dark suit as he walked up to her. "Mrs Schnee?" the man asked. Weiss tore her gaze from her wife to the man who stood in front of her. "I have a few questions to ask you about last night," he said as he reached into his coat and pulled out a notepad; flipping it open to a new page. "Can you tell me where you were last night?" he asked as he pulled a pen out.

Weiss blinked a few times, her mind in a haze from the events she just lived through as people began to whisper and walk off the airship, confused at what was happening. "I, I was at my father-in-law's house. Why? What is going on? Why are you arresting Ruby?" Weiss demanded.

The detective cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "There is an ongoing investigation involving your wife, ma'am."

"What happened?" Weiss shifted her voice into the commanding voice that was drilled into her from a young age. The man looked visibly shaken, trying to decide if he should tell her or not. One cold stare from her eyes broke him and he sighed deeply. He then began to tell her all that happened yesterday, and Weiss left their suitcases at the docks and ran for the waiting taxi cabs that waited for passengers. Shoving a couple out of the way, she gave them a stare and they let her have the taxi.

Weiss gave the driver far too much for the trip, but she did not care, she just needed to get there as soon as possible. Walking through the sliding doors of the hospital, she quickly scanned all the people sitting in the chairs; some waiting for their friends and family while others were waiting to see a doctor. Walking up and down the rows, she finally spotted the familiar black ears pressed against long black hair. "Blake!" The woman quickly sat up and looked around until she saw Weiss. Blake then quickly got out of her seat and rushed to her friend.

The white shirt under her black vest was stained with red. She had heavy bags under her eyes and looked like she had just crawled out of a sewer. Despite all of this, she embraced her friend as Blake began to sob into Weiss' shoulder. "What happened?" she asked as she held her close. Blake gathered her strength and took a step back to begin to explain.

"Yang's been stabbed in the stomach, Pyrrha was nearly cut in half, and Ren was shot. Lily is in the kid's wing and Nora's in the maternity ward, the stress might make her pop and an unstable Aura might hurt the baby..." Blake rambled off as she ran her hands through her hair, just trying to make sense of it all.

"Where's Jaune and Andy?" Weiss asked as she gripped Blake's shoulder.

"Our place."

Weiss nodded and gave a sigh of relief, at least not everyone was in a room in the hospital. Blake's strength gave out and she flopped into the chair she was occupying before and held her hands over her face. "Yang's in and out of critical condition and I don't know what to do! The worst part is that they're blaming Ruby for all of it."

Weiss quickly took the seat next to her and held her hand. "That's impossible, she was with me."

"They say they found evidence of her at each of the scenes. I don't even know anymore..."

Weiss squeezed Blake's hand and tried to help her back to her feet. "Come on, let's get you home. You can't help Yang like this..."

Blake numbly nodded and got to her feet. Shuffling next to Weiss, she made sure the staff had her information so if anything changes for anyone, she would be contacted. Helping Blake into a cab, they made their way to their home as Weiss pulled her scroll out and began to read up on all the information about the attacks on her friends with any possible connection to her wife.

* * *

Ruby sat in the cold room in an uncomfortable metal chair. The wall next to her was dominated by a large mirror, which marked the only feature in the otherwise featureless room. Her hands were still handcuffed together, but now they were also attached to the ring on the table. She had been stripped of her weapon, her cloak and other possessions she was not currently wearing. She was bouncing her knee nervously as she chewed on her lip, she had never been in trouble before, let along arrested like this.

Suddenly, the door across from the mirror opened up and the man who arrested her walked in holding a folder. Unbuttoning his jacket, he sat down across from her and set the file down. He had slicked back black hair and deep blue eyes. Deep wrinkles were set in his forehead and eyes, probably from the stress of his chosen profession. With a breath, he looked at her for a few moments before he spoke, "Hello, Mrs Rose. I am detective Strade."

"Hello..." Ruby said quietly with a small wave of her confined hands.

"Mrs Rose. Do you know who these people are?" he asked as he began to set a series of photos onto the table. Ruby only had to glance at them for a brief moment before knowing who they were: her sister Yang, Pyrrha, Ren, Nora and their daughter Lily. She named them off easily and looked to the detective for an answer.

He simply took a deep breath and slipped a picture over the others. This new one was a picture of a bloodied knife lying in a pool of blood on the dirty stone. "Does this knife look familiar to you?" he asked her.

Ruby studied the picture and realized what she was looking at. It was a hunting knife; etched into the blade was the crossed axes of Beacon, and on the handle of the small blade, "R.R." was carved into it near the back. "That's my knife..." she replied, "I thought I lost it last year when we were moving furniture around..."

The knife was given to her by Ozpin himself when the Reclamation of Vale was officially finished and a series of awards were given out to everyone who helped. A number of Huntsmen and Huntresses were given that knife as a symbol of honour. That knife alone granted her and her team the title of fully fledged Huntresses of Beacon despite not having actually graduated. Ozpin claimed that what they had accomplished during their time since the fall was better than any exam they could have taken.

"You lost it?" he asked her as he raised his eyebrow, "How come you didn't report it missing?"

"I just thought it fell somewhere and I'd find it eventually..."

"This knife was found at the scene of the crime involving Yang Xiao Long," he began, "she had been stabbed seven times in the stomach with that knife..."

Ruby's eyes widened as he delivered this news to her. "What? What happened? Is she okay?" she demanded.

"I can't tell you that."

"That's my sister!"

"You are a suspect in her case," he said sternly. He put another picture on top of Pyrrha's face. It was another pool of blood with a boot print next to it, also made of blood. "Is this your boot print?" he asked her.

"I, I don't know..." Ruby said as she shook her head.

"This was found at the scene of her assault where she was nearly cut in half by a large blade." He then pulled a few more pieces of paper and put it next to the boot print. It was the picture of the same make and brand of the boots she has on her Huntress uniform as well as a printed receipt for those boots from the credit card that Weiss got for her. "And here we have proof of purchase for the same boots not too long ago in the same size..."

He then took out one more picture and laid it over the Ren family. This picture was that of a bullet shell, and a fairly large one at that. Next to it, it had a small measuring thingy that investigators use whenever they take pictures of things. "This shell is a .416 high caliber round. A special order item that is only stocked in one store in Vale. You use these rounds for your weapon, don't you?" he asked as he stared at her.

Ruby really did not know what he was implying, and she was scared of the implications. Finally, she nodded and waited for the horror story.

"This shell was found on the roof across the street from the supermarket the Ren family were shopping at yesterday evening. Eyewitness reports say he was shot trying to protect his family, and you could throw a baseball through the hole in his chest this round created." He pointed to the spent shell in the picture, "All three people are now hospitalised, the little girl is covered in bruises and the mother is doing her best not to pop." He let the statement linger as Ruby looked at all the evidence stacked against her.

"I, I didn't do any of this!" She looked at him with horror in her eyes. "Please, you have to believe me! I didn't..." Her voice dried up as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Where were you yesterday?" he quietly asked.

"I was out on a Hunt." she replied.

He took his notepad out and pulled a pen out. "Who was your contact?"

"There was no contact..." Ruby muttered out as she just stared at the pictures laying in front of her.

"You went on a Hunt without going through the system last night?"

Ruby simply nodded.

"A little girl came to my dad's house in the morning, she said she saw monsters in the woods. Instead of calling the school and it taking a long time for it to go through the system, I decided to just go out and deal with it that day..." Ruby sighed as she hung her head.

"Who was this girl?" Ruby did not know her name, but she gave the man a description of the girl and told him about the three Beowolves she took care of in the woods of Patch. He nodded along, taking notes, before he began to collect the file and sort it away.

"Please, this is all a misunderstanding...I would never do these things..."

The man stopped just before he left the door and turned back to her. "For your sake, Mrs Rose. I do hope so..." And with that, he left her alone.

Moments later, a uniformed officer came and unchained her from the table and guided her through the back where all the jail cells were kept. Walking past drunks, drug addicts, and gang members; they hollered at her and called out to her, screaming obscenities and calling names. She did not belong here; she only hoped someone knew that.

Finally, they arrived at a lone cell near the back. The officer slid the door open and guided her inside before unlocking the handcuffs on her wrists. As Ruby rubbed feeling back into her hands, the officer walked out and the door slammed closed with a dreaded echo. Sitting on the slab of steel that was now her bed, she curled up on herself and hoped that everyone was okay; and prayed to anyone who would listen for it to come true, no matter the cost.

* * *

 **So here's the next part of this story. Sorry it took so long, all of my inspiration has been going for Enemy at the moment so I'm sorry about that.**

 **As a side note here, I have no idea how actual court room and police procedures go this is strictly going by what I think might happen based on all the shows I've watched...So yeah.**

 **If you enjoyed, please leave a Favourite! If you already have, please leave a comment, I love reading them and replying to them. This story is also posted on AO3 so if you read there come show your support!. I also have a tumblr, (Angryfacewritings) So come and say hi!**

 **And as always, thank you for coming out and taking time out of your busy days to read my slice of madess!**


	3. Chapter 3

_"Hero Ruby Rose has been taken into police custody following the series of brutal attacks that happened throughout the day."_

 _"Rumors have been popping up all over the city over who was to blame for the horrific attacks that happened. While police have still not come forward with their investigation; eyewitnesses have said they saw Ruby Rose, the hero of the Reclamation, being taken away in handcuffs."_

 _"Five people are in critical condition following separate, horrific attacks on them. Authorities have yet to comment on their findings, however, sources have said that they were all Huntsmen of Beacon Academy. Could this be the first in a series of serial murders? Stay tuned as we bring you every update on this case."_

 _"An anonymous source close to the police investigation has disclosed the names of the victims. Yang Xiao Long, Pyrrha Arc, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie, as well as their young daughter, were all hospitalized following the attacks. That same source has also claimed that Ruby Rose was the one who did all of this."_

 _"Despite the viciousness of these attacks, very few eyewitnesses have come forward. Police are urging any and all who saw anything during that day to come forward."_

 _"Valenese council members have suspended all court cases until this one has been sorted out. The council will personally be overseeing this trial instead of a normal judge and jury, making this the first Council court case in over fifty years. Ruby Rose is expected to take the stand-"_

Weiss sighed as she turned off the television and let the remote land on the seat next to her. It had been four days since the attack, and three since they took Ruby away from her. Weiss got off the couch and walked to the kitchen, where Jaune was busy cutting the crusts off a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Anemone's lunch. The men in the Arc family had been spending the last couple of days with them, utilising the scarcely used spare bedroom in her home.

Weiss could hardly flip through the channels of their TV without seeing some sort of news report about her wife and the attacks against her extended family. She cursed the police's inability to stop security leaks and paparazzi from flooding anyone who holds a microphone and has some sort of platform to spread information around. As she walked up to the blond man, he looked up and smiled at her. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked very tired, worried beyond the breaking point for his own wife. Weiss simply squeezed his shoulder and nodded; the silent gesture of strength gave him enough to bring his son his lunch.

Weiss busied herself with grabbing two mugs from the hanging rack and turning on the kettle to boil some water. As water was being prepared, Weiss selected her favourite disc of coffee and put it into the machine to make herself something to drink. Jaune was not the only one who was stressing about the current affairs in Vale. Herself and Blake were just barely holding it together in a house that suddenly seemed far too large and empty without their loved ones living next to them.

Pouring the boiling liquid into a mug, she grabbed Blake's favourite tea bags from the cabinet and popped two into the water before taking them to the stairs that led to Blake and Yang's half of the house. The basement was spacious and homey, much like the rest of the house. Weiss made sure all three levels had a bathroom that suited everyone's needs while Ruby and Weiss had the second floor almost all to themselves, save for the spare bedroom.

The ground floor held the large kitchen and large living room where everyone tended to hang out. In the basement, the laundry room and workout room were found, as well as a den and where the second half of her team slept. Weiss found Blake in the den, wrapped in blankets and staring at the tv that was down there. On it was another news report with the only thing that people had been watching for the past few days. Ruby Rose and the attacks she had supposedly committed.

Weiss stood next to the couch as Lisa Lavender spoke to the camera person. She was sitting at her desk while the small square held a picture of Ruby, smiling like she always did. _"It has been confirmed that Ruby Rose is the prime suspect in the series of attacks against her fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses earlier in the week, leaving several parties upset; including the Mistrali council, who are demanding answers and action against Ruby Rose for what she had done to Mistrali native, Pyhrra Arc. Former four-time champion of the Mistral regional tournament and proclaimed hero of the Reclamation. More on this story as it develops."_

Weiss looked down at Blake, just staring at the television as the news anchor was replaced with the weather reporter, who began to talk about the small shower that they were going to have later in the week. While Weiss tried her best to keep up appearances despite what has happened to her, Blake was just a total mess. Dark bags under her eyes signalled nights spent sleepless; greasy, unkempt hair filled with tangles and wrinkled clothing showed her distress; and she had not seen Blake without her ears pinned back to her scalp in days. Gently, Weiss waved the steaming mug in front of the Faunus's face to snap her out of her small trance.

Blake slowly took the warm mug and offered a mumbled thanks before taking a small sip of the infused water. "Any news from the hospital?" Her voice was strained with emotion as she turned the mug this way and that, just looking for something to do. Before replying, Weiss sat on the couch next to her and pulled her feet under herself and sipped from her coffee.

"Not yet, I told them to let me know the moment anyone is ready to take visitors." With everything that happened during that day, everyone was still being carefully watched by medical staff. Yang, Pyrrha, and Ren were all still unconscious because of their injuries. Nora, on the other hand, was having more problems with her pregnancy. With the amount of stress that was pressing on her body, the doctors were worried that the children she was carrying would be born prematurely or hurt by unpredictable Aura fluctuations. The best thing to do at the moment was just to wait, and that was the worst part.

Blake was silent after that, a blank stare that drilled into the tea in her hands, willing it to make her girlfriend better. "Blake, it wasn't your fault." They had gone through this conversation more times than she can count since they came back home from the hospital, leaving their loved ones behind.

"I was supposed to be there for her, Weiss!" She could see the slight shaking in her friend's hands as she gripped the mug tightly. "We were going into Grimm infested sewers and I was supposed to watch her back."

"You had no way of knowing what was going to happen. It was not your fault." Weiss leaned forward to look in Blake's eyes to try and get the message across. The raven-haired woman just continued to stare into the tea and shake her head as tears began to form in tired and bloodshot eyes once more.

"But I don't want it to be Ruby's..."

It was Weiss's turn to be silent, it was a thought she had been pushing away since this whole thing began. She had not gotten a call from the police or Ruby since she was arrested, and the questions she had answered left holes for Ruby to do the things that the reporters said she had done. Weiss would have given up everything to have Ruby be innocent in all of this; but the logical part of her brain told her that there was a very real possibility that she could have done these things...

Before she could say anything else, there was a faint beeping and vibrations from her pocket. Blake looked up at her with wide eyes as Weiss fished the device out of her pants, opened it up, and held it to her ear. "Hello?"

 _"Misses Schnee? This is Dr Blanc from Vale General. I'm happy to tell you that everyone is out of critical condition and can receive visitors; however Yang Xiao Long, Pyrrha Arc, and Lie Ren are still unconscious at this time."_

Weiss was already standing up and pacing nervously. "Yes, thank you, doctor, we'll be right there." She closed the device and looked at Blake to give her the good news, or at least whatever the news was at the moment; that managed to bring some light back into her amber eyes. With a little bit more motivation, Weiss got her to shower and put on clean clothes as she went up the stairs to talk to Jaune and tell him as well. Within an hour, everyone was inside the car and on their way to the hospital.

Arriving, everyone split up to go to their loved ones. Jaune and Anemone went to Pyrrha's room while Blake rushed to Yang's bedside. With no one particular waiting for her, Weiss carried a small bag through the labyrinthine halls that made up the hospital and entered the maternity ward. When she finally found the room she was seeking, Weiss had to take a deep breath and calm herself for what would be on the other side.

Opening the door, she was surprised that the room was not as small as she had expected. There was enough room for whatever medical devices they would need should something terrible happen… Chairs lined one wall while a window overlooked the hospital's courtyard, letting natural light mix with the harsh fluorescent coming from the ceiling. Sitting up in the hospital bed and wearing a white gown was Nora, a few different cables came off her wrists that connected to heart rate monitor as well as other devices that Weiss could not even pretend to understand.

The overwhelming size of her stomach made Weiss's own body hurt at just the thought of giving birth. The pale skin was exposed, showing stretch marks and veins that were pushed tight against her body. For everything that had happened, she came out mostly unhurt, but with the most to lose. She looked just as tired as the rest of them, with bags under her eyes and a sad expression. Currently, she was looking at the small child that was in her arms, gently running her fingers through her silky dark hair.

Weiss had to suppress a gasp of shock upon seeing the young child. Half her body was covered in deep purple bruises and her breathing also sounded laboured. Weiss pulled one of the chairs to the bedside and joined Nora in gently running her hands down Lilly's hair, exposing the girl's face. "Hey Lilly, how are you feeling?" she asked gently with a small smile, glad that the child was relatively unharmed.

The child just looked over at her and mumbled something while she was still clinging to her mother's side. Nora smiled sadly as she continued to comfort her daughter.

"Why don't you tell Auntie Weiss what you did?" Nora asked as she moved Lilly so that she was not completely wrapped around the pregnant woman. Weiss leaned in close to hear what the small girl had to say.

"I unlocked my Aura..."

Weiss let out a theatrical gasp as she smiled at the news. "That's amazing, Lilly! What colour is it?"

"Purple-ish pink-ish..."

"I'm so proud of you, Lilly! I stopped by your place on our way here to pick up a friend for you since I know he was lonely without you." Weiss reached into the bag she had brought in with her and pulled out a well-loved, purple sloth plushie that she had bought Lilly a few years ago for her second birthday. When she saw her toy, Lilly immediately grabbed it and held it close to her chest with a tight squeeze.

"I missed Pancake..."

"And he missed you too sweetie. I also brought your colouring books; want to colour while I talk to your mom?" The girl nodded as she slipped off of Nora's bed and accepted the bag from Weiss before moving to the floor nearby to start scribbling with coloured wax pencils, completely ignoring the printed black lines to ensure that the bird was decorated with colours that clashed with each other. When Lilly was distracted, Nora let the small smile she had on her face fall as she rubbed her face while taking deep breaths.

Weiss reached over and gripped her shoulder and smiled gently at her pregnant friend. "He's okay, he's out of critical condition and is being watched around the clock for any change. He's going to be alright, Nora." She could see the tears threatening to spill over in aqua eyes as she kept her voice down so Lilly did not see her mother in such a weakened state.

"I almost lost him, Weiss. The doctors told me it took six surgeries to make sure he was alright, six! I just don't know what's going on right now and I'm so scared..." The mother ran her hands over her bloated stomach, caring for the life that she was carrying. "What's worse is that they're saying Ruby did all of this! How! How could someone say that, what proof do they have!" Weiss had to hold onto her hand and squeeze to keep the woman from shouting it and upsetting Lilly even more.

"I know, Nora. I know. All we can do now is wait for the evidence to stack up and go to trial." The ginger woman nodded and sniffed deeply, wiping the tears off her face before they could fall. A small smile formed on her face when she looked down at her stomach and began to trace lines around the pulled skin.

"I know how many I've got now... I know I asked them not to tell me when they were first seeable on the sonogram, but after everything, I wanted to know." Her smile grew a little bit wider as she looked over to Weiss. "Three; Yang owes a fifty when she wakes up."

Weiss smiled with her and placed a hand on her stomach. She was amazed at the very fact that Nora Valkyrie, a woman who could take lightning and turn it into pure strength with an inexhaustible supply of energy, is about to bring three more lives into the world. Weiss knew that she wanted a child one day, and there were a number of avenues to go about doing that; it was not something she had talked about with Ruby just yet, but she wanted to bring the subject up soon. Maybe once all of this was over...

"I'm going to check on the others. I'll let Jaune know where you are." Weiss squeezed her hand lightly while getting out of her seat and setting it back against the wall, before leaving with Nora's best wishes for everyone else.

Leaving the room, she made her way through the white halls and into the general hospital area where she found Yang's room. With a gentle knock, she entered the room and found Blake sitting next to the sleeping body of Yang, her prosthetic arm sitting on a table next to the bed and her hair strewn about the pillow.

Blake was busy wiping tears off her face. A small collection of crumpled tissues next to her made it seem like she had been crying since she got here, which was probably not far from the truth. Like Nora, she was hooked up to a heart rate monitor as well as an IV drip that gave her what she needed while she was out. Seeing Yang like this, stone still and laying straight instead of her usual sprawled sleeping position, it felt like it was not real. Letting Blake know about what happened with Nora and Lily, Blake thanked her and continued to hold Yang's hand while just staring at the sleeping form of her lover.

Leaving the room, Weiss made her way down the hall to Pyrrha's room; but when she entered, she was met with three people in suits and briefcases as well as Anemone in Jaune's arms. Whatever was going on, Weiss seemed to have interrupted a conversation between Jaune and one of these people. It was only when everyone looked at her when she entered, that she recognised one of the suits. "Whitley?!"

Her younger brother adjusted his crisp white suit and blue tie as he turned towards her and smiled the plastic smile he always gave her. "Ah, sister. I was just coming to see you next," he said as he handed Jaune a card and told him to call when Pyrrha woke up. He walked up to Weiss with such confidence it was painful to see him looking so much like their father. "How have you been?" he asked politely as he pulled his tie just a little looser.

Weiss decided to ignore the obvious answer and ask a question on her own. "What are you doing here?" she asked as she looked at the other men in suits probably worth more than most of the medical equipment in the room.

"I'm here for you, dear sister," Whitley said smugly as he raised his eyebrow. "Did father not tell you that he was sending his legal team and myself to oversee this court case?"

"No, he didn't... You're helping us with the case?" Weiss asked.

"Helping?" Her younger brother scoffed and shook his head. "No no, dear sister. We're here to assist the prosecution in this case." For the brief moment that the weight of her heart had been lifted, it came crashing back down with even more pressure. "We're on loan from Atlas since Vale is in such disorder at the moment, I was just getting my witness testimonies ready for when everyone wakes up. Oh, and before I forget." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small envelope and handed it to her.

Weiss opened it and pulled its contents out. It was a check with a staggering amount of zeros tagged on at the end of it. "That is what it cost to buy all of your shares from the SDC, not a small chunk by any means." She just stared at her brother in disbelief. If their father had done that, it meant that she has no stakes in the company anymore and was removed from the family in everything but name, which might not last much longer at any rate.

The fake smile on his face slipped off and he leaned in close to whisper to her. "You did this to yourself, Weiss. By marrying a ticking time bomb of a Huntress who was too young to even attend the school in the first place. Goodbye, Weiss." With that, he adjusted his suit and walked out of the room while paying no mind to his shocked sister. She had no idea what to do anymore, all of the changes she had enacted in the company will have already been changed back. What little good she had done was all gone.

It was terrifying as it was freeing.

The one thing that snapped her out of her shock was when her brother all but yelled at one of his associates to leave the room. Looking up, she saw one of them looking between Weiss, Pyrrha laying in the bed, and back to her brother before shaking his head. "We're not here to help them?" he asked while gesturing to all the people who had been affected by the series of events that had happened.

"No, now let's get a move on or we'll be late with our meeting with the detectives."

Instead, the man simply pulled the tie off his neck and threw it at her brother, who was flabbergasted at the sudden act. The next thing he did was open his briefcase and hand the other man a file before turning to Weiss. "Hello, Mrs Schnee. My name is August Dup, I am recently unemployed by a law firm and just moved to Vale. I'd like to take your case," he spoke quickly, as he held his hand out for her to shake.

Without blinking, Weiss handed him the check her brother had given her and took his hand. "You're hired." She then turned to the shocked look on her brother's face; she wished she had a picture so she could have it framed and put on her desk. "I'll see you in court!"

* * *

 _ **A/N: And we're still alive!**_

 _ **If you enjoyed, please leave a Favourite! If you already have, leave a comment! I love reading them and I love replying to them. I also have a Tumblr (AngryFaceWritings) So if you're int he area,**_ come _ **say hi! This story is also posted on AO3 under the same name, so if you read there as well,**_ come _ **show your support!**_

 _ **And as always, thank you for taking time out of your busy days to read my slice of angst.**_


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